I'm curious if anyone watches the news with their children around?

We typically have the 5 and 6 o'clock news on in the background during the week while we're preparing dinner. The kids are usually playing and take no notice.

However, now that my daughter is getting older (3 1/2) she hears things. Like when that fire occurred in Philly where the 5 children died. She perked right up and said something like... "Fire? Oh, no! The children died? I don't like fire mommy."

This was the first time I thought to myself that, gee, maybe we shouldn't have this stuff on during the day. :( I feel like she's too young and I should shelter her from the nasty outside world for a while longer.

What do you all do? and what are your opinions?

gee. i havent thought about that yet. we only have the 5:30/6:00 AM news on in the morning (aidan isnt up yet...its only the twins), and then dont watch the news till 10:00 pm.
Anyway, I guess I'd be inclined not to turn it off. Maybe I'd use it as a tool to talk to her about things? See how she handles it that way first. If that doesnt go well, then yeah, maybe I'd turn it off.

I do the same as Karri suggested. Most of the time Caroline is occupied by other tihngs and doesn't even hear the news, but when there was constant coverage of the tsunami in the winter, she asked about that. I told her that it happened very far away, and yes, it was sad that so many people got hurt, and she was totally fine with that.

DH is usually the only one that has it on....and even Josh doesn't notice....the only reason he talked about the tsunami was because they talked about it at school....so while we were on vacation at the beach..he would ask if a tsunami was coming, etc.


I would try what they suggested as well.....how did you respond to her and what was her reply?

We used to have it on as well. Tylor and Alyssa really didn't pay much attention to it except Tylor loved the weather reports. Now we don't leave it on. Since the accident they both hear words and get upset or scared by them. If there is the mention of a fire Alyssa basically shuts down and gets upset and if they talk about crashes with people killed Tylor is seriously worried. I know that they will work through this but until then we just watch the 11 pm news when the kids are in bed.

Jayne

We only watch the morning news before they get up so we haven't had to worry about it.

We have it on but Jada and Justin don't take notice to it yet. Occassionally one of them will see our reaction to something and they'll ask what happened and we just tell them - a man got hurt or something like that.

We watch either the 5 or 6pm broadcast every night. The girls are always too busy playing and have never mentioned it yet. Not sure what I'd do if they did. I guess if it was something upsetting I'd use it as a teaching tool.

I usually don't have the news on when the kids are awake. But, I don't really watch much TV until they're in bed either. If the TV is on, it's usually on kids shows. I do have talk radio on a lot. Ellie doesn't even seem to notice it.

You actually have time to watch TV? :lol: Nope we never have the tv on anymore, maybe at night after 11 when all is asleep, and its basicly 10 minutes of flipping channels :rolleyes: DH.. Sorry cannot help

I have it on while I'm preparing dinner and feeding the kids but so far, nothing has caught their attention. I would probably use it as a tool to teach my kids about things that happen in the real world. They're going to learn it eventually, I'd rather be the one preparing them for it than other kids who are just as clueless :nod:

Better for them to learn to handle sad things when you are around than when you are not, isn't it? Keep the tv on.